A power regulator comprises a first power switch configured to carry a pulsed current, an input capacitor between a positive terminal of an input voltage bus and a return point, an output capacitor between a positive terminal of an output voltage bus and the return point and a protection device coupled between the return point and a common return point of the input voltage bus and the output voltage bus, wherein the pulsed current is configured to flow through the protection device.
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10. A regulator comprising:
a first power switch configured to carry a pulsed current;
an input capacitor between a positive terminal of an input voltage bus and a return point;
an output capacitor between a positive terminal of an output voltage bus and the return point; and
a protection device coupled between the return point and a common return point of the input voltage bus and the output voltage bus, wherein the pulsed current is configured to flow through the protection device.
1. A system comprising:
a three-terminal converter having a first terminal connected to a first input voltage bus, a second terminal connected to a first output voltage bus and a third terminal connected to a first terminal of a protection device comprising a switching element; and
the protection device having a second terminal connected to a common node of a second input voltage bus and a second output voltage bus, wherein: a portion of an output current flowing through the second output voltage bus is configured to flow through the protection device.
15. A method comprising:
operating a power regulator in a high duty cycle mode, wherein the power regulator comprises:
a three-terminal converter having a first terminal connected to a first input voltage bus, a second terminal connected to a first output voltage bus and a third terminal connected to a first terminal of a protection device; and
the protection device having a second terminal connected to a common node of a second input voltage bus and a second output voltage bus; and
configuring the power regulator such that a current flowing through the protection device is equal to a current flowing through a power switch of the three-terminal converter.
2. The system of
3. The system of
an inrush current limiting element; and
a reverse polarity protection element.
4. The system of
the inrush current limiting element is connected in series with the reverse polarity protection element.
8. The system of
the first input voltage bus is a positive input voltage bus; and
the first output voltage bus is a positive output voltage bus.
9. The system of
the second input voltage bus is a negative input voltage bus; and
the second output voltage bus is a negative output voltage bus, and wherein the second input voltage bus is directly connected to the second output voltage bus.
11. The regulator of
a second power switch and an inductor, wherein the first power switch, the second power switch and the inductor form a buck dc/dc converter.
12. The regulator of
a second power switch and an inductor, wherein the first power switch, the second power switch and the inductor form a boost dc/dc converter.
13. The regulator of
a second power switch, a third power switch, a fourth power switch and an inductor, wherein the first power switch, the second power switch, the third power switch, the fourth power switch and the inductor form a buck-boost dc/dc converter.
14. The regulator of
the protection device comprises an inrush current limiting element and a reverse polarity protection element, and wherein the inrush current limiting element is connected in series with the reverse polarity protection element.
16. The method of
the protection device comprises an inrush current limiting device and a reverse polarity protection device.
17. The method of
configuring the power regulator such that a pulsed current flowing through the protection device is equal to a pulsed current flowing through a power switch of the three-terminal converter.
18. The method of
the three-terminal converter is a buck dc/dc converter comprising a high side switch and a low side switch.
19. The method of
configuring the three-terminal converter such that a current flowing through the low side switch is equal to a current flowing through the protection device.
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This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent Ser. No. 14/252,912, entitled “High Efficiency Power Regulator and Method,” filed on Apr. 15, 2014 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/198,178, entitled “High Efficiency Power Regulator and Method,” filed on Aug. 4, 2011, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to devices and methods for non-isolated dc-dc power regulators, and more particularly, to devices and methods for non-isolated dc-dc regulators comprising a protection or control device.
A telecommunication network power system usually includes an ac-dc stage converting the power from the ac utility line to a 48V dc distribution bus and a dc-dc stage converting the 48V dc distribution bus to a plurality of voltage levels for all types of telecommunication loads. Alternatively, the 48V dc distribution bus may be converted into a low voltage bus through an isolated dc-dc converter. Furthermore, a plurality of downstream non-isolated dc-dc converters with inputs coupled to the low voltage bus may generate a variety of voltage levels in accordance with the needs of the telecommunication network power system. Usually, the dc distribution bus may have a relatively wide voltage rang. For example, the dc distribution bus may have a range from 36V to 75V in a normal operation mode. During a transient, the dc distribution bus' transient voltage is usually up to 100V.
To achieve an optimized distributed power system, one or more non-isolated power converters may be used to reduce the range variation of the distribution bus voltage. The non-isolated dc-dc converters can be implemented by using different power topologies, such as buck dc-dc converters, boost dc-dc converters, buck-boost dc-dc converters, linear regulators and/or the like.
In order to have a reliable telecommunication power system, a variety of protection devices may be connected in series with non-isolated dc-dc converters to form non-isolated dc-dc regulators. For example, an inrush current limiting device such as an n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) transistor may be placed between an input voltage bus and a buck dc-dc converter. When the buck dc-dc converter is plugged into the input voltage bus, the inrush current limiting device helps to reduce the current flowing into the dc-dc converter by slowly turning on the NMOS transistor. Likewise, a reverse polarity protection device may be connected in series with a dc-dc converter. The reverse polarity protection device helps to prevent a current flowing into the dc-dc converter when reverse polarity occurs. Conventionally, these protection switches are placed in the main power path of the dc-dc converter. As a result, the protection switches may endure full voltage and current stresses of the dc-dc converter. Such full voltage and current stresses may cause extra power losses in the dc-dc converter.
These and other problems are generally solved or circumvented, and technical advantages are generally achieved, by preferred embodiments of the present invention which provide a system, structure and method for achieving a high efficiency non-isolated dc-dc switching regulator.
In accordance with an embodiment, a system comprises a three-terminal converter having a first terminal connected to a first input voltage bus, a second terminal connected to a first output voltage bus and a third terminal connected to a first terminal of a protection device and the protection device having a second terminal connected to a common node of a second input voltage bus and a second output voltage bus.
In accordance with another embodiment, a regulator comprises a first power switch configured to carry a pulsed current, an input capacitor between a positive terminal of an input voltage bus and a return point, an output capacitor between a positive terminal of an output voltage bus and the return point and a protection device coupled between the return point and a common return point of the input voltage bus and the output voltage bus, wherein the pulsed current is configured to flow through the protection device.
In accordance with yet another embodiment, a method comprises operating a power regulator in a high duty cycle mode, wherein the power regulator comprises a three-terminal converter having a first terminal connected to a first input voltage bus, a second terminal connected to a first output voltage bus and a third terminal connected to a first terminal of a protection device and the protection device having a second terminal connected to a common node of a second input voltage bus and a second output voltage bus and configuring the power regulator such that a current flowing through the protection device is equal to a current flowing through a power switch of the three-terminal converter.
An advantage of an embodiment of the present invention is reducing the size and power loss of a dc-dc regulator so as to improve the efficiency, reliability and cost of a power system.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures or processes for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the various embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.
The making and using of the presently preferred embodiments are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention, and do not limit the scope of the invention.
The present invention will be described with respect to preferred embodiments in a specific context, namely a high efficiency buck dc-dc converter. The invention may also be applied, however, to a variety of dc-dc converters including buck dc-dc converters, boost dc-dc converters, buck-boost dc-dc converters, flyback converters, forward converters, half bridge and full bridge converters and the like.
Referring initially to
The NMOS transistor 212 functions as a slow start switch controlled by a controller (not shown). When an input voltage is suddenly applied to a power regulator, the NMOS transistor 212 connected between the input voltage and the power converter may be turned on slowly. As a result, the current flowing through the NMOS transistor 212 ramps up slowly so that the input voltage of the power converter increases slowly to its normal voltage. It should be noted that while
The protection device 202 further comprises a reverse polarity protection element. As known in the art, a diode may allow an electric current to pass in forward direction, while preventing the electric current from flowing in the opposite direction. As such, when a power converter is plugged into an input voltage bus with reverse polarity, the protection device 202 comprising the diode 214 may prevent an electric current from flowing into the power converter so as to keep the reverse voltage applied to the input of the power converter from damaging the internal circuits of the power converter.
Alternatively, the diode 214 of the protection device 202 can be replaced by a second NMOS transistor 216 shown in the protection device 204. The second NMOS transistor 216 can be used as a series diode by turning off the second NMOS transistor 216. On the other hand, when the series diode operates in a forward conduction mode, the turned on NMOS transistor 216 may reduce the voltage drop across the protection device 204. An advantageous feature of replacing a series diode with an NMOS transistor is that the turned on voltage drop across an NMOS transistor is much less than that of a series diode. As a result, the efficiency of the power protection device can be further improved. It should be noted while
The protection device 206 shown in
The third three-terminal converter 306 is a buck-boost dc-dc converter comprising a buck dc-dc converter plus a boost dc-dc converter. More particularly, when the buck-boost dc-dc converter 306 operates in a step-up mode, the first NMOS transistor SW1 is turned on and the second NMOS transistor SW2 is turned off. As a result, the inductor L1, the third NMOS transistor SW3 and the fourth NMOS transistor SW4 form a boost dc-dc converter having the same system configuration as that of the boost dc-dc converter 304. On the other hand, when the buck-boost dc-dc converter operates in a step-down mode, the fourth NMOS transistor SW4 is turned on and the third NMOS transistor SW3 is turned off. As a result, the first NMOS transistor SW1 and the second NMOS transistor SW2 and the inductor L1 form a buck dc-dc converter having the same system configuration as that of the buck dc-dc converter 302.
In steady state operation of a buck converter, the input dc current flowing into the Vin+ terminal is equal to the product of the current flowing out of the Vo+ terminal and the duty cycle of the first NMOS transistor SW1. As shown in
Although embodiments of the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed, that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
Mao, Hengchun, Liu, Yan-Fei, Wu, Renhua
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